In this follow-up to her award-winning debut collection, How She Read, Chantal Gibson delivers an unflinching critique of the representation of Blackness, past and present, in with/holding.

with/holding is a collection of genre-blurring poems that examines the representation and reproduction of Blackness across communication media and popular culture. Together, text a

How She Read is a collection of genre-blurring poems about the representation of Black women, their hearts, minds and bodies, across the Canadian cultural imagination.

Drawing from grade-school vocabulary spellers, literature, history, art, media and pop culture, Chantal Gibson’s sassy semiotics highlight the depth and duration of the imperialist ideas embedded in everyday

How She Read, 2019 (Caitlin Press)  2020 Pat Lowther Award Winner2020 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Award Winner2020 Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist (CAN)2020 Jim Deva Prize Shortlist (BC)2020 Fred Cogswell Prize 2nd place (BC)2020 Gerald Lampert Memorial Longlist 2020 Raymond Souster Award Longlist 2020 Nelson Ball Prize Longlist2020 CBC 24 Canadian Writers on the Rise2020 CBC Poetry Month List2019 CBC